Presents a post hoc analysis of peer-identified excellent departments at small colleges (5,000 or fewer undergraduates) to discover if they suffer from a lack of centrality. Hopes that this information may be used to help departments plan curriculum, develop evaluation methods, or write mission statements to strengthen existing programs or defend…

Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, used strategic planning to affirm its size and mission. Size alone is not seen as an adequate measure of the flow of institutional resources and commitments. The price of being small and the price of expansion are discussed. (MLW)

Describes a new curriculum for speech communication students who do not wish to teach--public communication--that combines studies in the departments of speech, English, journalism, and radio-television. (PD)

The article describes how one liberal arts college, Mount Saint Mary's College (Maryland), developed a core curriculum over a four-year period. The curriculum's roots in a faculty survey and issues of consensus and debate (especially the curriculum's principle of integration) are discussed. Principles such as detailed organization with flexibility…

Presents suggestions a compilation of the responses to the National Communication Association's Task Force on Advancing the Discipline that came from individual sub-committee members in regard to small undergraduate college programs. Considers staffing and curriculum issues, problems of theory and performance, collegiality and participation in…

A 1987 study surveyed the national membership (N=350) of the Speech Communication Association's Committee on Small College Speech Programs as the first step in a longitudinal project to describe and monitor speech communication programs on small campuses as well as small programs on larger campuses. Data helped to: (1) determine trends in program…

The development of speech communication curricula in two diverse small colleges--one state supported and the other a private liberal arts school--is traced in this paper. Following a description of each college, the paper discusses the problems each faced in developing its speech communication curriculum, including opposition from members of other…

Considers the cultural heritage and special needs of small town and rural Americans, and stresses the importance of developing curricula and delivery systems that assist people to maintain and renew their rural life-styles and environmental conditions. (MB)

Examines a situation facing Wheaton College where half of its English faculty will retire in five years, many will elect to work part-time before then, and only one new faculty member trained in cultural studies and theory has been hired at this point. Focuses on questions of curriculum revision and logistics. (TB)

Describes the design and equipment configuration of four mediated classrooms installed at a small university. Topics include audio, visual, and environmental subsystems; the teaching workstation; integration into learning, including teaching faculty how to use it and providing support services; and an instructional technology integration model.…

Recalling a program session at the 1981 annual meeting of the Speech Communication Association entitled "The Small College Speech Communication Instructor: Jacks and Jills of All Trades," this paper "revisits" that session by reviewing the comments and observations made then and offering reflections on the changes that have been observed in the…

Foreign Language across the Curriculum (FLAC), a practice that modifies non-FL liberal arts courses to include an FL reading component, is described as implemented at two private colleges. It is concluded that FLAC offers only a token FL benefit to most students. (33 references) (LB)

One of the most significant activities undertaken by members of small college speech departments has been the development of the Essential Undergraduate Curriculum in Speech Communication at the Small College. This paper reviews six aspects of this curriculum: (1) the "statement of domain"; (2) iterdisciplinary aspects; (3) questions of…

The small college communication curriculum must, by necessity, be more limited than that of the university. However, it can still fulfill the needs of its students while responding to external curriculum requirements, such as those of the institution, accrediting agencies, professional societies, and employers. Two approaches to curriculum…

In the spring of 1996, the Board of Regents of Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota, decided to ask the administration and faculty to do what was needed to change the small private church-related two-year college into a small private church-related four-year college. The first designated major was to be Communication. The first step in…